Wavelength-Tunable Ultraviolet Electroluminescence from Ga-Doped ZnO Microwires

The usage of ZnO as active layers to fabricate hybrid heterojunction light-emitting diodes is expected to be an effective approach for ultraviolet light sources. Individual ZnO microwires with controlled gallium (Ga) incorporation (ZnO/Ga MWs) have been fabricated via a chemical vapor deposition method. It is found that with the increasing Ga-incorporated concentration, the near-band-edge (NBE) photoluminescence of the ZnO MWs blue-shifted gradually from 390 to 370 nm. Heterojunction diodes comprising single ZnO/Ga MWs and p-GaN have been fabricated. With increasing injection currents, the interfacial emissions can be suppressed effectively and the typical NBE emission dominates the electroluminescence (EL). In particular, with increasing Ga-doping concentration, the dominant EL emission wavelengths of the ZnO/Ga MW-based heterojunction diodes blue-shifted from 384 to 372 nm, and the blue shift can be ascribed to the Burstein–Moss effect induced by the Ga incorporation. The present work demonstrates the feasibility of optical band gap engineering of ZnO MWs and the potential application for wavelength-tuning ultraviolet light sources.